The Dragon Tale
by tsutsuji
Summary: Bakura and Ryou are wizards, with a dragon in the bedroom! But how did this happen? Flashbacks reveal how their lives intersect with the world of Harry Potter in strange ways. Yugioh AE arc spoilers. BakuraRyou pairing. probably abandoned for now, sorry
1. Chapter 1

Title: The Dragon Tale

Author: Tsutsuji

Date written: February 2006

Fandom: Yu-gi-oh!

Rating: PG13

Pairings: Bakura/Ryou (possibly others to come)

Original characters: no

Type: adventure, crossover, yaoi/slash.

Warnings: crossover

Status: in progress. (making it up as I go along, in fact!)

Spoilers: some for end of Yu-gi-oh and the Ancient Egypt storyline.

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to these characters and I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement.

Spell-checked and self-beta'd. Please inform me of any typos.

Archive and reposting permission: let me know if you want it.

Notes: uses Plot Bunnies #165 & #198 from The Bunny Farm. (Bakura's and Ryou's friends don't understand why they have things like Owls and moving paintings in their home, and a dragon that Bakura once helped in the ancient past returns to find him in the present.) There will probably be a couple others added as I go along. Crossover with the Harry Potter universe - but no one goes to Hogwarts, and probably no one from Hogwarts will appear in Domino, either.

Summary: Bakura and Ryou wake up one morning to find an unexpected visitor waiting on their balcony.

---

The Dragon Tale, part one

Bakura was having a wonderful dream about himself and Ryou doing something erotic that involved their wands and a plume of phoenix feathers. He was just getting to the part where Ryou would begin moaning in that lovely, sexy way he had, when something jolted the bed and woke him up.

He didn't even bother to raise his head from under the blanket. It must have been Ryou coming back to bed after going to the bathroom, or else it was one of those earth tremors that so frequently rumbled through this little island country of Japan that was now his home. Bakura wasn't quite as used to these little earthquakes as the natives and Ryou were, but at least they didn't make him jump out of bed anymore like they used to.

Besides, he was far too sleepy and content to do any jumping just yet. That dream was still warm in his mind, mingled with the memories of what he and Ryou had actually done last night before falling asleep together. He smiled to himself as he burrowed more deeply into his pillow. A little more sleep, and then maybe they would continue from where they left off. There were still quite a few positions in _The Joy of Wizard Sex_ that they hadn't yet tried, after all.

He felt Ryou snuggle closer against him, which was very pleasant, and then Ryou reached around and hugged him from behind, which was even better.

"Bakura!" Ryou whispered.

Bakura's smiled grew wider. Ryou must have be thinking along the same lines as he was.

Ryou shook him and whispered again, hardly louder but more urgently.

"Bakura, wake up!"

Bakura uncoiled himself and rolled onto his back before tugging the blanket off his face. Ryou hovered above him now, but he didn't look quite as loving and eager as Bakura had expected. His normally pale face was nearly as white as the hair that fell around it, and his beautiful brown eyes were as big as saucers. Maybe they were having an earthquake after all, Bakura thought with a frown.

"What's wrong?" He started to sit up.

"Sshh!" Ryou winced and hugged him hard, which made sitting up impossible. He glanced fearfully up over Bakura's shoulder. "Don't move around so much!"

"Huh?" Bakura's brain was still sleepy and he was distracted by the way Ryou clung so closely to him. If there was an earthquake, he didn't see how being quiet or not moving was going to help. "What are you so nervous about? Earthquake, or just a bad dream?"

"Neither!" Ryou shook him again in panic and frustration. "It's outside! There's something out on the balcony, something huge!" His voice rose to a whispered shriek. "I think it's a dragon!"

Bakura stared at him for a second, wondering if he'd heard correctly. Finally he realized there was a fairly simple way to find out if he had. He rolled over and looked out the window.

White gauze curtains covered the sliding glass doors from ceiling to floor, designed to satisfy Ryou's insistance on privacy while keeping the room from feeling too closed in. Bakura couldn't stand feeling closed in, especially at night. However, since the sky outside was already filled with early morning light, the shape beyond the window could be seen fairly clearly through the thin fabric. Bakura looked, then blinked and stared. Ryou was right. There was a dragon outside, lounging there on their fourth-floor balcony.

Shining scales of reddish gold covered the thick coils that filled the balcony and spilled over its edge. One great claw hung over the rail beside the potted geranium. Each of the three toes on that claw was the size of his own hand. Bakura was a little surprised the balcony hadn't collapsed under its weight.

After a long moment of fascinated staring, he finally noticed the face that stared back at him through a gap in the curtain. The long, thin snout was a lighter shade of gold than the rest of the body, the white-gold of sunbleached sand. The eyes gleamed like gold nuggets sparkling in the sun. While he watched it, the dragon's head tilted to the side, and the eyes blinked slowly closed and opened again.

"It can't be," Bakura said, more in awe than in disbelief. "It's a Sand Dragon! I heard they became extinct long ago."

"I don't care what kind it is, what's it doing on our balcony?" Ryou wailed quietly in his ear. "Even if it doesn't swoop down and eat someone, people will see it! They already think there's something weird about us, what with the owls and everything. "

Bakura chuckled softly. "Yes, I guess they do, especially after one of your Wizard's Chess knights took a swipe at the cleaning lady's finger."

"That wasn't funny! I should never have left them out like that anyway," Ryou muttered guiltily.

"And even better, that Samurai on that silk painting you insisted on leaving up in the hallway who threatened Jonouchi with his sword!" Bakura reminded him. "At least it kept him from raiding the kitchen!"

Ryou winced. "At least we convinced Jou that it was some new holographic art display, too. We've tried to be so careful not to let anyone know that we're wizards, and now we've got a dragon on the balcony. Bakura, how do we make it go away?"

"Well," Bakura said thoughtfully. He pulled out of Ryou's frightened embrace (reluctantly) and started to get out of bed. Outside the window, the dragon tilted its head the other way and blinked again. "I don't think it's going to be that easy to get rid of. We'll have to invite it inside."

"Inside!" Ryou gasped, sitting upright. "Are you kidding? You can't just bring a live dragon into the house!"

"It will be a tight fit, I agree," Bakura said calmly. He grinned; he knew Ryou was more concerned about a live, wild dragon destroying the apartment or eating one of the neighbors than about whether it would fit inside the bedroom. Every living wizard knew that even the tamest breeds of dragons hardly made house pets, and most dragons liked human for breakfast as well as anything else. But Bakura knew a few things that most other living wizards didn't know.

He approached the door slowly; the dragon blinked again and tilted its head back the other way. Bakura smiled.

"However, there's nothing else we can do at the moment," he said over his shoulder to Ryou. "If I'm not mistaken, this particular dragon is an old friend of mine. You can't expect me to just send it away when we haven't seen each other in 3,000 years."

This time only a little squeak of surprise escaped Ryou. Bakura grinned back at him before walking over to the window and sliding back the curtain, then unlatching the door. While he did this, the dragon's head rocked slowly from side to side.

"You see, he's already behaving very discreetly -- for a dragon, at least," Bakura said to reassure Ryou, who was now clutching the bedcovers around himself and shaking. "Tipping his head like that is a very subdued greeting. If he really showed his exuberance he'd be wagging his tale like a dog, and you can imagine what the neighbors would say about that!"

Bakura slid the door open. The odor of sun-heated sand enveloped him as the dragon poked its head toward him. For a moment, that scent and the light in the golden eyes took him back in time, to the days when he was a young thief searching for forgotten tombs among the rocks above the banks of the Nile.

One day, instead of old bones and gold, he found a freshly hatched golden egg instead. At the time, the baby Sand Dragon had not been much longer than his own height. It was not more than a day old, and it was weak from hunger. Bakura never knew what happened to the mother that should have been nearby to feed it and teach it to hunt. He fed the creature the scraps of meat he'd stolen that morning.

As a young thief, Bakura already knew then that it wasn't safe to stay in one place for long, but he risked it to bring more food to the dragon and watch over it for many days and nights. He helped it hunt for rodents and other dessert creatures until its own instincts took over.

When the dragon regained some of its strength, it dug into the rocks nearby. Sand Dragons liked old abandoned tombs just as well as thieves did and had a better instinct for finding them. In fact, in spite of all the legends, they were the only dragons who actually liked to sleep on piles of gold. It was the beginning of a wonderful friendship that had lasted several years, until the growing dragon began to be noticed by residents of nearby towns, as had Bakura's thieving. He realized they had become liabilities to each other, and somehow the dragon seemed to understand this as well. Bakura left for richer towns along the Nile and the dragon flew off one day at sunset, heading for less populated lands to the south near the river's unkown sources. He'd never expected to see it again.

"Well, you've certainly grown and thrived since that time, I'm glad to see," Bakura said, admiring the long, thick, sinuous body draped over the balcony rail. He ran his knuckle over the ridge of the dragon's snout. It closed its eyes and rolled its head against his hand, just as the young dragon used to do.

Fortunately, as Bakura glanced around the neighborhood, he couldn't see any signs that anyone else had noticed the dragon yet. The curtains were drawn in most of the other windows facing theirs, and since it was still so early on a Sunday morning, no one was out and about in their quiet neighborhood.

The gold nugget eyes glittered as if asking him a question.

"Yes, I remember you," he said. "I wonder how you ever found me here! Well, you'd better come inside, if you don't mind a bit of a squeeze. Come in and meet my mate, Ryou!"

Bakura pulled the sliding door open wide and stepped back. The dragon stuck its head in cautiously, sniffed the room, and cocked its head at Ryou, who stared back at it in awe.

"Yes, that's Ryou," Bakura said to the dragon soothingly. "You needn't worry about him; he's much more afraid of you than you are of him, and he's harmless, I assure you."

"Afraid of _me_?" Ryou said incredulously. "What has a dragon got to be a afraid of a human for?"

The dragon slowly uncoiled its length and began to draw itself into the room, placing one huge claw inside the door and then the other. Ryou climbed backward off the bed and edged toward the bedroom door.

"Sand dragons are rarely violent, especially toward humans," Bakura explained. "They're normally quite placid, even timid. They prefer to spend their days sleeping, buried in the desert sand or in the shady depths of an old tomb, and coming out at night to hunt in the dark. They only attack when they're unexpectedly disturbed or startled. At least, they used to be that way long ago, in my time. Even then, there weren't many of them, although they live for thousands of years, longer than any other dragon breed. I read that they were hunted to extinction in the Middle Ages. Fortunately, it appears that isn't quite true."

Once it was all inside, the Sand Dragon nearly filled the bedroom, even though Bakura knew it was also one of the smallest breeds. Standing close by it, Bakura could see shallow, silvery marks on its hide, the scars of a long lifetime. Its large, gossamer-thin wings were nearly invisible folded against its back.

Bakura closed the door and drew the curtains. The dragon curled its long body around itself as if the room was its nest, and soon looked nearly as comfortable as Bakura had felt curled up in bed just a short time ago. It rested its head on the bed and watched as Bakura made his way over, under and around it to join Ryou at the door.

"Great," Ryou said. He looked worried, but at least he wasn't terrified any more. "Well, he does seem to like you; at least he hasn't take his eyes off of you since he entered the room, and he hasn't eaten you yet. But what are we going to do with a dragon in the bedroom?"

"For a start, we're going to feed it breakfast, like the good hosts we are," Bakura said. He put his arm around Ryou's shoulders. Ryou looked up at him doubtfully.

Bakura paused for a moment; Ryou was so appealingly flushed and tousled after being awakened from sleep and startled like this. It made him think of dragging him off to the spare bedroom to try out one of those untried positions. Unfortunately, their copy of _the Joy of Wizard Sex_ was now somewhere under the Sand Dragon.

"Keeping a dragon as a pet isn't legal in the wizarding world, you know," Ryou said. Bakura raised an amused eyebrow at him, and Ryou sighed. "Of course, when are you ever concerned with legalities, wizard or otherwise?"

"Don't worry, I'm not about to advertise the fact that I have a supposedly extinct breed of dragon sleeping in my bedroom," Bakura said. "But I wonder why it's here at all. It must have been in hiding to have survived this long. Perhaps something has driven it from its home."

"Why did it come to you?" Ryou asked. "Do you really think it remembers you from 3,000 years ago? How did you ever make friends with a dragon in the first place?"

"I'll tell you about it while we're making breakfast," Bakura said. He turned to the dragon, who was still gazing at him, he would almost have to say, fondly. Its chin rested on one claw spread out on the bed, which sagged under its weight.

He nodded his head side to side to the dragon, which tilted its head to the left and blinked slowly at him again before it closed its eyes completely.

"He looks tired," Ryou said softly.

"Who knows how far it flew to get here?" Bakura agreed.

"We're going to need a new bedspread, and a new mattress," Ryou observed, but without much concern. He turned and looked up at Bakura again. "About breakfast, Bakura - what does a Sand Dragon eat?"

"I'll show you," Bakura said with a wink.

With his arm around Ryou's shoulders they left the bedroom together. Bakura left the door open so the Sand Dragon could hear their voices, hoping it wouldn't try to squeeze through the narrow door into the rest of the apartment as long as it knew he was nearby.

Behind him, the Sand Dragon opened one golden eye to watch him leave, then sighed contentedly and went to sleep.

Ryou allowed Bakura to lead him to the kitchen. Bakura dug into the freezer and pulled out the frozen steaks he had stashed there while Ryou set about making their own ordinary breakfast. It was fortunate that Bakura liked red meat so much, Ryou thought. He wouldn't have bought the expensive treat for himself, and a dragon probably wouldn't be very impressed with his steamed vegetables and omellete.

While he chopped and mixed ingredients and listened to Bakura muttering to himself over the best way to thaw the steaks, Ryou smiled a little and shook his head in wonder. A year ago he was merely the vessel for a vengeful Egyptian spirit, and now here he was on a Sunday morning, with that former spirit who was now his lover, making breafast for a dragon that was dozing in the bedroom.

Times like this made Ryou stop and wonder how his life had become so wonderfully strange. It had always been strange, one way or another, but it had certainly not been wonderful, not until those few days a little less than a year ago when everything he thought he knew had changed

---

to be continued.

Next chapter, a flashback to a year ago, when Ryou's life went from Strange to Really Strange!


	2. Chapter 2

Title: The Dragon Tale, chapter 2 of ?

Author: Tsutsuji

Rating: PG13 - some dark themes, a little implied shonen-ai

Pairings: Bakura/Ryou

Warnings: MAJOR SPOILERS for the Ancient Egypt arc of Yu-gi-oh and the end of the series, although I've made a few changes for my own amusement (for yours as well, I hope).

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to these characters and I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement.

Spell-checked and self-beta'd. Please inform me of any typos or other errors.

Summary: The story of how Bakura's and Ryou's lives intersect with the world of Harry Potter, and how this led to Bakura becoming a permanent part of Ryou's life after the end of the battle with Yami no Yugi. First of three flashback chapters. (The dragon will return in chapter 5)

Notes: This story is a crossover of the worlds of Harry Potter and Yu-gi-oh, which means it's not exactly the familiar reality of either world. There are major spoilers here for the Egyptian arc and the end of the Yu-gi-oh series (although I haven't read the entire story yet so I'm guessing at some of the details). Events are meant to be basically the same as what occurred in the manga up until the end, where this story begins; however the truth behind these events is different.

I've used one bit of "fanon" inspired by the English dub version of the anime - the idea that Ryou's mother was from England, which happens to be useful in an HP crossover.

If Bakura and Ryou seem ooc, I hope that will be explained somewhat by the background I've given them. They're a little different than my usual take on these two (for one thing, Bakura falls for Ryou first this time, instead of the other way around!).

I've adapted a certain magical theory from the HP world, maybe stretching things a little so it works for this story. I'm certainly not an expert on Harry Potter's world, so if I've got any other magical theory, events, or spells wrong, please let me know so I can either fix the error or explain it away!

---

Chapter 2

Flashback: About a year before the first chapter, at the end of the 'Millennium World' Shadow Game...

As a matter of fact, a little less than a year before the dragon landed on his balcony, Ryou had just decided he'd had about enough of the Spirit of the Millennium Ring. He'd made up his mind to get rid of the Ring and its nameless ghost - just as soon as he got control of his body back this time.

He'd had it with the months on end of being dazed and confused, waking up in strange places without knowing how he got there, and losing friends when they fell into comas. On top of that, he'd been poked in the chest by the Ring, stabbed by a toy turret, and slashed on the arm just to impress an even crazier Millennium Item holder. Even his remaining friends, Yugi and Jonouchi and the others, tended to be wary of him, since they never knew if it was really him they were talking to or the Spirit of the Ring doing his flaky-Ryou impression.

The very last straw was finding himself shut out of the chance to enter the world of the Pharaoh's memories, where he might be able to help his friends, and where he might finally find out what this was all about. Instead, he found himself passing out and losing control of his body to the Spirit of the Ring _again_.

Even the magical protection the Ring gave him wasn't worth it anymore, Ryou decided. In fact, if he actually _knew_ any spells worth using, he'd have used them right then and there. He'd worry about being detected by Dark Wizards later, after he got a few things straightened out with the Spirit of the Ring.

But he couldn't use magic. He'd never learned any spells, except the Occlumency his mother had taught him so that no one could read his mind to find out that he had magic powers. Even the Spirit couldn't reach into those protected thoughts - not that he'd ever shown much interest in what Ryou was thinking, anyway.

Ryou couldn't tell how much time had passed while he was locked deep inside his own mind. He struggled to regain consciousness and take control of his body, knowing that even if he did, he was most likely going to wake up who-knows-where, feeling like he'd had been run through the ringer again...

"Run through the ringer?" echoed the Voice of the spirit. He sounded amused. "There's a charming expression. What does it mean?"

Startled and annoyed, Ryou could only mentally sputter back at him.

"_You_!" he yelled angrily in his mind.

It wasn't a polite sort of "you," either, but that only made the spirit laugh. Unfortunately Ryou couldn't come up with anything better at the moment. The spirit still refused to acknowledge any name, although Ryou had always had a feeling he should know what to call him besides "Voice," or "Spirit."

Besides that, though, Ryou was surprised that the Voice had even spoken to him. More and more often lately, the spirit had simply ignored him, far more so than at the beginning of their strange acquaintance when he would at least make a sarcastic comment now and then. Ryou had hardly even heard the familiar muttered threats and rants toward the Pharaoh recently.

He was glad the spirit was paying attention to him again now, though, because the mood he was in, he was ready to give him a very loud piece of his mind.

"What are you doing?" he demanded through the mental link. "Where am I, and what kind of trouble are you causing now?"

He tried to open his eyes to pull himself to consciousness, but he couldn't. He wasn't in control of his body yet. The spirit chuckled softly.

"You'll see soon enough, _Yadonushi_, my host. Just be patient a little longer. It's almost over."

"Over? What does that mean?"

Ryou struggled, pushing back harder than he usually did against the Spirit. To his surprise he felt the hold on his body give way for a second, but then the Spirit's will muffled him again.

"Patience!" the voice snapped. "I only need control of your body for a short while longer. After that, you'll be on your own again!"

That caught Ryou's attention. He wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not. Probably not.

"Why? What's happening?"

There was no answer in words. Instead, after a few seconds of silence, Ryou was suddenly bombarded with a rush of mental images. They poured into his mind, fragmented and strange yet familiar, as if they came from a dream he'd forgotten he'd had and just suddenly remembered.

There was the Pharaoh, the Other Yugi in white robes and gold jewelry, surrounded by six Egyptian Priests... a gleaming Egyptian city, then a ruined village half buried by the desert... a tomb deep underground, squadrons of soldiers, huge Duel Monsters battling each other in the sky... Yugi, Jonouchi, Honda, and Anzu searching through a shadowy stone labyrinth...

Then there were scenes from more recent times: Malik laughing insanely, Ghost Kotsuzaka trembling on his knees next to a broken tombstone, Pegasus with blood on his face and an empty, gaping eye socket... the Other Yugi again, this time glaring across a table scattered with game pieces... Then suddenly there was the horrible image of a rotting, mummified corpse starting to crumble.

The images passed by too quickly for Ryou to make any sense of them, but in all of them the Millennium Items flashed, and a river of molten, flaming gold flowed through like the thread that tied them together. There were voices, too, speaking words he didn't understand, but beyond all else there was the sound of screaming and wailing, until that slowly faded away into a distant moan, like the wind whistling through the broken stones of an ancient tomb.

"There," the voice sighed as the barrage of images ended. "You'll have to sort it all out later, I'm afraid. There's no time left to explain. At least now you'll know all that I did while I was using your body. And why."

The Spirit sounded weary and shaken. Ryou also felt like he needed to catch his breath, even though he wasn't yet in control of his body. He realized that something very strange must have happened. The Voice seemed weak. This could be his chance to regain control, he thought suddenly. But he didn't do it. Curiosity, at least, held him back.

"Was that - your memories? Why are you showing me all of this now?"

"So you'll understand. When you hear the story from Yugi and the Pharaoh, at least you will know the truth. The Gods know, you are the only one capable of understanding it all."

"What do you mean?" Ryou asked, more surprised and curious than ever. "You never wanted me to understand anything before!"

"Of course not. You'll understand the reason for that as well. All I can say now is that I had my reasons for keeping you 'out of the loop,' as they say. Just as I assume you have had your reasons for keeping your own magic powers so well hidden all this time."

If Ryou had been awake he would have jumped back in shock at those words.

"Wh-what? You - you knew? How did you...?"

The Spirit laughed quietly. There seemed to be only a whisper of his old malice in his laughter.

"How did I know you have magic in your blood? I've known all along! If I hadn't been certain at the start, your appearance as the White Mage in our first little Shadow Game with the Pharaoh made it perfectly clear. That's part of the reason I was able to work through you so easily, but it is also the reason I had to keep you from knowing anything. You might have tried to use your powers in some way if you had known, and that would have been disastrous for everyone - especially you, dear host."

"Me?" Ryou was baffled. The spirit couldn't possibly fear his powers, but that didn't sound like a threat - in fact, he sounded more like he was concerned for Ryou's safety. Either possibility seemed incredible.

"Well, after all, that is why your father gave you the Ring, isn't it? To protect you by hiding your own magic? I'm afraid you'll have to manage without it again, though."

An odd chill ran through Ryou's soul at those words. There was something flat and final about the sound of the Spirit's voice.

"What did you mean, I'll be on my own again soon? What's over?" he asked again.

When the voice came into his mind again, it seemed to be moving away from him. "I've enjoyed sharing your enchanting body, _Yadonushi_, but it's time for me to leave you now. My game with the Pharaoh... has ended. At last."

Ryou felt the Spirit's will lose its grip on him, slipping away into shadows. Suddenly afraid for some reason he didn't understand, Ryou mentally reached out for it.

"Wait! Do you mean - you lost?"

"In a manner of speaking." The voice laughed again, more softly, coming from farther away. "This is not how I intended it all to end, and yet..."

Other voices, like the ones that had been screaming in the dreamlike vision, seemed to fall away into the darkness with the Spirit, sighing like wind over desert sand. Ignoring them, Ryou called to the Spirit in his mind and strained to hear an answer. It came from a great distance.

"Goodbye, Ryou Bakura! Unless we meet again in another life..."

Ryou woke up.

He pushed himself to sit up, shivering when he felt cold stone under his hands. His mind was clearer than it had been in months, even though he still didn't know where he was or how he got here. But he knew one thing for certain: The Spirit of the Millennium Ring was gone.

---

"Hey, man, you must be glad to finally get rid of that evil Ring, right, Bakura?"

Honda had nudged Ryou's arm and whispered this to him after he handed the Ring to Yugi, the last of the seven Items to end up in his possession.

Without a second thought, Ryou put on the same old cheerful mask he'd always worn around his friends and smiled back at Honda. For a short time after the Spirit disappeared he'd thought things would change, but at that moment he realized that his life would only go back to the kind of normal it had been before he owned the Ring - a life of being separate and alone. The Ring had shielded him and his secret in more ways than one.

"Yes, I suppose I am!" he said cheerfully. But that wasn't exactly true after all.

Over the last few days, Ryou had started to piece together the memories the Spirit had given him, and to fit them into the story Yugi and the others told of their adventures in the world of the Pharaoh's memories. He soon realized that the Spirit had been right - he seemed to be the only one who could comprehend the incredible evil that had been unleashed in Kul Elna. The others, even the Pharaoh himself, really couldn't understand the horror of the Dark Magic that had been invoked there.

Ryou had spent most of his life hiding and denying his own magic powers out of fear of a man who was said to be the greatest Dark Wizard who ever lived. But even the darkest whispered tales of the one who once called himself The Dark Lord were pale in comparison with the evil deed that created the Millennium Items.

He now knew that the Spirit of the Ring had been the Egyptian Thief King, Bakura. He finally began to understand Bakura's quest for vengeance, but that didn't quite explain why Bakura had done all of the things he did. In spite of all he knew now, he still wasn't sure why the Spirit had kept the knowledge of Ryou's own magic a secret. Even if he had been protecting Ryou in some way, Ryou couldn't be certain of his motive. He might only have been interested in protecting the host body he needed to use. But when he thought back to the Spirit's last words, that wasn't what it sounded like at all.

Whatever the truth was, by the time he watched the Millennium Items placed in the stone tablet for the final time, Ryou could only bow his head in silence and hope that the Spirit of the Millennium Ring was at peace.

---

Senshiro Bakura left his son Ryou a message on his answering machine, telling him that he was coming to Domino City for a visit and that he had something important and exciting to discuss with him. He was annoyed at first when Ryou wasn't there to meet him at the airport. When he called Ryou's number and got no answer, he began to worry instead. Dusk fell like a bad omen while he made his way as quickly as possible to Ryou's apartment.

Senshiro knocked on the door, only to find it unlocked and unlatched. Pressing it open with a shaking hand, he peered inside. The rooms were dark and silent. Old fear clutched his heart.

"No," he whispered. "Not again. Please, not again!"

He stepped inside and spoke with a tremor in his voice.

"Ryou? Are you here? Please, answer me, Ryou!"

He stopped short as a shadow moved in the room. Through the dim light coming in the windows from the street, Senshiro saw a figure move toward him. The gleam of silvery-white hair made him sigh suddenly with relief.

"Ryou! Why are you standing there in the dark!" he snapped, irritated that he'd been made to worry. He felt along the wall and found a light switch. When the light came on Senshiro froze again and stared at the man standing before him.

"You're not my son!" he said finally, letting anger mask his fear. "Who are you?"

"Who am I?" the man said. His voice sounded similar to Ryou's, but eerily different. He seemed to consider this question for a moment. "For the first time in 3000 years I can answer that in truth: I am Bakura!"

Senshiro stared at him, horrified and uncomprehending. The man looked like Ryou in so many ways, although he was a little taller than Ryou had been when he last saw his son. He was even dressed in some of Ryou's clothes that he recognized, a striped t-shirt and jeans. But his hair was a long, wild tangle, and his eyes were narrowed with a strange gleam in them. He looked, in fact, like Ryou under the control of an evil spell. Seeing that was almost worse than finding his son missing.

"Ryou..." he whispered pleadingly.

The man's strange smile widened a little. "Ryou is not here," he said.

Senshiro stared. For the first time he saw the gleam of blue eyes, rather than Ryou's deep brown eyes. But if this wasn't Ryou, who could he be? It must be a trick, some illusion to trap him. That didn't even matter; he only wanted to know what had happened to his son.

The wonderful news that had brought Senshiro to Domino seemed to shatter like a false hope - the news from Bill Weasley, his young friend back in Egypt, that the legendary Harry Potter had arrived at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and was about to enter his second year there. Already, the stories said, in his very first year, he had faced and defeated a follower of the One Who Must Not Be Named.

Hearing this, Senshiro had dared to hope that things were really safer now in the wizarding world. Maybe Ryou didn't have to hide any longer. Maybe he could stop pretending that he hadn't inherited any of his family's magic at all. Maybe he could even go to Hogwarts himself, as his mother's family had always done.

That was what he'd come to tell his son, after all this time - only to find some kind of Dark Magic had found Ryou first.

With a slow, shaking hand, Senshiro reached into a deep pocket in his coat and closed his fingers around the wand there. He hadn't cast a spell in ages, to say nothing of trying to use his wand against the magic of a Dark Wizard. He knew he was no match for one of them, but he had to do something.

But the man who looked like Ryou was ignoring him now. As Senshiro watched, the stranger raised his hands in front of his face and studied them, smiling as if they were a wonder to be seen.

"And it seems, also," the man said softly, "I am once again _sar byt 'nchk_ - as I was called so long ago."

Senshiro's hand froze in the act of drawing out his wand. The man's words shocked him, but they weren't the Unforgivable Curse words he expected. As far as he could tell, the stranger had spoken in ancient Egyptian. Hearing that language spoken aloud, Senshiro could only stand there and gape at him in awe.

The man dropped his hands and looked at Senshiro again as if he'd suddenly remembered he was there. Senshiro realized it was too late now to cast a spell, even if he could think of one. The stranger's smile grew even wider as he started forward with his arms outstretched.

"Welcome home - _Father_!" he said, and opened his hands to reach for him.

--

Ryou tried one last time to reach his father by phone before stepping on the plane for home, but his colleagues didn't know where he was, as usual. He'd never told his father about the Spirit of the Ring, but now that both Spirit and Ring were gone, he wanted to tell someone about all that he'd discovered. He had no desire to discuss Bakura with Yugi and his friends, however; anyway, they had more important matters to discuss amongst themselves. On the long plane ride home, Ryou hardly said a word to anyone, but he was sure they didn't notice.

His mask stayed on when they parted ways at the airport. They were all busy making plans to get together and duel again soon, eager to use all that they'd learned about Duel Monsters from the King of Games. Each of them waved goodbye to Ryou briefly, except for Yugi who stopped and smiled up at him as brightly as ever. Only a little line between his brows revealed some concern, making Ryou pause.

"Bakura, you'll come over and play with us too, now, won't you? After all, it will all be different now!"

Ryou smiled. "Of course, I'd love to, Yugi!"

It wasn't exactly a lie. He would like to keep them as his friends, he supposed, even if they didn't understand. But Yugi didn't know just how different his life was going to be now. He wasn't even sure how much longer he'd be able to stay in Domino.

All the way across town to his apartment, Ryou kept feeling like he'd lost something or left something behind on the plane. He checked to make sure he had his bag, his keys, his wallet, and his deck of Duel Monsters cards. Of course, the only thing missing was his Millennium Ring.

He unlocked the door, slid out of his shoes, and dropped his bag to the floor with a sigh. Everything was back to normal - for him. Separate and alone.

Except, he suddenly noticed, there was a light on in the room off the hallway, his game room. He knew he'd turned off all the lights before he left.

Ryou walked over and looked into the room. A wave of confusion washed over him when he saw that there was a man sitting at the table with his back to the door. His first thought was that someone had broken in to his apartment; followed immediately by the equally illogical idea that the manager had rented out his place while he was gone. While those thoughts flashed through his mind, another part of him noticed that the man wasn't wearing a shirt, only a pair of faded jeans. Broad shoulders and a suntanned back were half-hidden under a stream of pale-colored hair.

The man turned around to face him. Ryou's eyes flew wide open and his breath stopped. He was staring at a familiar face - his own. Or rather, his face transfigured with shadowy blue eyes and the faint, white lines of a scar on the tanned skin. Surprise on the bizarrely familiar face became a grin of pleasure.

"Welcome home at last, dear host!" The other Bakura - solid, real, and living - stood up and moved toward him in a swift, fluid motion. "Did you miss me?"

Ryou felt disoriented; his blood pounded in his ears and his vision started to go black. He couldn't find his breath. He felt himself falling, although this time it wasn't any other will that forced his mind to slip away. This time it was only shock, plain and simple.

He wasn't certain, but just before everything went completely dark, it seemed as though a pair of strong arms reached out and caught him.

---

to be continued...


	3. Chapter 3

Title: The Dragon Tale, chapter 3 of ?

Author: Tsutsuji

Rating: PG13 - some dark themes, implied shonen-ai

Pairings: Bakura/Ryou

Warnings: MAJOR SPOILERS for the Ancient Egypt storyline and the end of Yu-gi-oh. With a few changes of my own.

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to these characters and I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement.

Spell-checked and self-beta'd. Please inform me of any typos.

Summary: 2nd of 3 flashback chapters. Shocked to discover that Bakura has reappeared in his life, Ryou is even more amazed to find out why and how this is possible. And maybe even a little more surprised to find that this isn't such a bad thing, after all.

---

Chapter 3

Flashback, continued.

---

Without even thinking about it, Bakura caught Ryou before he could hit the floor.

He landed on his knees with the limp body cradled in his arms. It was a very strange sensation, holding the body he'd so recently occupied himself. But then, it still felt strange to have a body of his own again.

"Are you always going to faint now at the mere sight of me, Yadonushi?" he muttered unhappily. He looked down at Ryou's face nestled in the crook of his arm. The face looked young in a way Bakura could never remember being, so gentle and innocent, but Bakura knew that face hid much more than it revealed.

For a brief moment, Bakura considered trying to touch Ryou's thoughts. He wasn't sure if it was still possible, but he longed to know what had leapt into Ryou's mind at the sight of him standing there. If the memories Bakura had given him made sense to him, he should know he was in no danger. If he didn't, things were likely to become rather complicated for him.

Bakura stood and lifted Ryou, watching for signs that he was coming around, but the boy was out cold. He was a little heavier than he looked, but Bakura wasn't really surprised. He knew that Ryou was much stronger than he appeared, both physically and mentally - not to mention magically.

He carried Ryou through to his bedroom and laid him on the bed, carefully cradling his head onto the pillow. He let his hand trail through Ryou's hair, which felt even softer than he remembered it against his own fingers.

"Strange," he said musingly. His hand brushed Ryou's cheek, partly to feel its softness, and partly to marvel at how his own skin looked against Ryou's pale, slightly flushed face.

"_Yadonushi,_ my host..." he said softly. "No, not anymore. _'Adjo_..." He titled his head and sifted through his mind for the word in Ryou's language. "_Takara,_" he added after a moment. "My treasure."

There was a little flutter under the closed eyelids. Bakura pulled his hand away and waited.

He wanted those deep, soulful brown eyes to open and really look at him for the first time, but he wondered what he would see in them when they did.

"Will you still fear me, Ryou Bakura? Or hate me?"

Bakura heard the door to the apartment open and close. He sat back and listened as Senshiro came in and nearly tripped over Ryou's bag in the hallway.

"Oh! Ryou? You're back!" he heard the father's excited voice. "Ryou?"

Bakura quickly stood and stepped away from the bed. Reluctantly, he went out into the hallway to meet Senshiro.

"Ah, Bakura," he said happily, doing his best to pronounce it with the Egyptian inflection and shortened vowel sounds Bakura used, rather than as he pronounced his own name. "Where's Ryou?"

"In his room. Passed out, I'm afraid," Bakura said lightly. When Senshiro's smile shifted to a frown of worry, he continued quickly. "Exhausted from the trip, I think."

"Oh, of course," Senshiro said, dropping back into relief as quickly as he'd risen to alarm. He smiled at Bakura. "Well, that explanation you promised me when he got here can wait a little longer, I suppose. Ah... I'll just take a look at him, then."

Bakura stood back and watched him go over to the door of the bedroom. He was even more anxious for that explanation that Senshiro was, even considering the man's intense concern for his son's safety. But Bakura was not as interested in what Senshiro thought of the explanation as he was to hear what Ryou would say of him.

A smile of much deeper relief spread over Senshiro's face when he looked in, and Bakura saw his shoulders droop as his remaining doubt and worry finally left him. Bakura smiled as well, but he hung back in the hallway just outside the door when Senshiro went in and sat down gently on the edge of the bed.

---

Ryou had an odd thought: I wonder where I'll be when I wake up this time? But as he did start to wake up, he couldn't remember why he should wonder that. There was a comforting, familiar feeling in the space he was in. Before he opened his eyes, he noticed a comforting scent as well. Cloves, wasn't it? Like those cigarettes his father used to smoke sometimes...

He opened his eyes to see his father's face smiling down at him.

"Father!" He started to sit up, but found he didn't feel like moving very quickly; he was a little wobbly, for some reason. He was also confused. He thought he'd seen - but it must have been his father he'd seen sitting there in his game room. He must have only imagined it was someone else.

It was almost as much of a surprise to see his father here, though. They hadn't spoken face to face in over a year, but his father looked the same as ever. He was tanned from living and working on the edge of the desert, and his hair and beard were shaggy and needed a trim, as always. Something was different, though, Ryou thought. The dark eyes sparkled with happiness. He hadn't seen his father look anything but sad or worried since he could remember.

"When did you get here?" he asked, pushing himself to sit up a little more.

"I arrived the day before yesterday. You certainly had me worried, Ryou, when I found you weren't here! I wish I'd known you were going to Egypt. I could have met you there, and then we could have traveled back to Japan together."

"I'm sorry I worried you, father! I did try to reach you while I was there, but no one could find you, as usual. But, wait," Ryou said. His head still felt foggy, but he knew something wasn't quite right. "How did you know I've been to Egypt, anyway?"

"Your friend told me, of course," Senshiro said lightly, "although he refused to explain what you were doing there, and just said I would have to wait and hear about it from you when you got back."

Ryou blinked a couple of times, confused. What friend had said that? Yugi and the others had just returned as well, so who could his father have talked to? No one else knew he had gone to Egypt.

Senshiro leaned forward. "I must say, Ryou, I'm dying to know how you met him! How did you happen to run into a wizard who has my name, but your and your mother's looks, and who also happens to speak ancient Egyptian like a native?

Ryou's mouth fell open and he slumped back against the pillow. "W-wizard? My...? Your...?" he sputtered. There was only one person his father could be talking about - except of course that Bakura wasn't a wizard. "I didn't imagine it? He's really here?"

Senshiro drew back, frowning at his reaction. Ryou didn't blame him. How could he explain when he didn't understand it himself?

"Of course, he's here" his father said cautiously, "he's been waiting for you to return. Didn't you know he was here?

"Well, no, not - not really. I mean," Ryou trailed off. How could he have known? He never expected to see Bakura again anywhere, to say nothing of finding him right there in his own apartment, where he'd apparently been making small talk with Ryou's father for the last two days.

"I don't understand," he said, thinking out loud. "How is this possible? How can he be _here_?"

Movement by the doorway caught his eye. He looked up and gasped. Out of habit, he clutched at his chest, but there was no Ring there. Instead, Bakura himself stood there in the doorway.

"It _is_ you!" he said. This time he knew what he was seeing was real. Very real, and very much alive. "How can it be?"

Bakura stared down at him for a moment. Ryou felt caught in the gaze of his shadowy-blue eyes, but he suddenly realized that he didn't feel afraid. Not in the way he used to feel afraid of the spirit, at least. Senshiro turned and looked up at Bakura as well, then back at Ryou questioningly. Ryou could tell his concern was growing by the second. He knew what his father feared, but he wasn't sure the truth would be any more reassuring.

"The answer to both of your questions is the same, I believe," Bakura said, in a voice that was hauntingly familiar to Ryou and yet different than he'd ever heard it before. For a moment, all he could do was stare in wonder at the sight and sound of the former spirit standing there. More than anything else, he suddenly felt overcome with curiosity.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Bakura gazed at him a second longer, then smiled a little and seemed to relax.

"It's quite simple," he began. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned casually against the doorframe. "If you couldn't guess already, I'll explain. We are related, you and I, Bakura Ryou. Through the long ages and across continents, finally the scattered blood of my family has been rejoined within you. That is why your magic is so powerful, although you've hidden it so well! Everyone in my village had some magic power, but my family's magic was among the greatest."

"Your village," Ryou echoed. He shuddered as he remembered the fate of Bakura's people.

"Yes," Bakura said, nodding slowly. "You do understand, I see. Then perhaps you also understand how the blood of my people protected me and allowed me to remain behind, although I was trapped and silent until you put on the Ring."

"The Ring!" Senshiro exclaimed. "Do you mean that artifact I gave you? What's that got to do with you, Bakura?"

"It has everything to do with me," Bakura said with a grim smile. "The blood of my people is also mingled with the gold of that artifact, as you call it. That's what protected my spirit for the last 3000 years!"

Bakura turned his gaze back to Ryou. "When you touched the Ring, I was able to live again through you. That's how I knew that you had magic in your blood - the ancient magic of my own family! I speak the ancient language you so admire, Senshiro, _father,_ because I lived in the time when it was spoken."

"Your soul was bound to the Ring?" Senshiro echoed. He frowned at Bakura. Ryou saw that his hands were clenched and his knuckles had gone white. "Since the time of the Pharaohs? That is the darkest kind of Dark Magic - it is forbidden even to speak of such a thing! In fact," he added a little more doubtfully, "I wasn't sure it was even really possible."

He looked up at Bakura with a dark scowl. Ryou realized what he was thinking, that only a Dark Wizard like The One Who Could Not Be Named would do such a horrible thing. He leaned forward so suddenly his father jumped in surprise.

"No, Father, you don't understand! Bakura didn't seal his own soul in the Ring. The Pharaoh's priests made the Millennium Items to seal other people's souls in objects; that was their whole purpose! And they were made by darker magic than you can even imagine!"

His father turned to him, now clearly worried.

"Ryou? You knew the Ring was cursed like this?" he asked. "I gave you that as protection!" he added with a shudder. "I had no idea..."

"I didn't either, until recently," Ryou said immediately. "The Ring has protected me, Father."

_In ways I can't even explain_, he added to himself. He glanced up at Bakura, who only smiled down at him in silence.

"I know what you're thinking, Father, but you don't understand," Ryou said. "The Priests made the Ring and six other objects like it, but they didn't do it to preserve someone's soul in order to prolong life unnaturally. What they did was even worse! They took the dark part of a person's spirit and turned it into a kind of monster that they could control. They..."

He glanced up at Bakura, almost afraid to say what his father needed to hear. Bakura gave no sign. Ryou had the impression that he wanted to hear how Ryou would tell the tale, perhaps to see if he really understood. He wasn't sure he did understand all of it, in fact, but since Bakura wasn't saying anything, he tried to explain it to his father anyway.

"The Priests - one of them, anyway - sacrificed a whole village to make the Items. Bakura escaped, though, and survived, alone. He meant it literally when he said his family's blood was in the Ring! And something else happened when they did the ritual, too," he went on, a little more uncertainly. He looked up at Bakura. "Something else was created, or released, a demon or something... I'm not sure... "

What Ryou didn't understand was whether Bakura had controlled the demon, or if - as he suspected and rather hoped was true - the demon had controlled him.

Senshiro frowned even harder, then turned to Bakura.

"Yes, I survived the slaughter of my village," Bakura said. "But Zorc the Dark One was formed as well by the ritual, a demon born to feed off the grief and rage of my people. The Pharaoh at the time only had enough wit to use the seven Items to lock the demon within them - along with himself as a sort of guardian, I suppose. I was sealed along with them, bound to the blood of my people. My spirit lived on in order to enact my family's desire for vengeance. In the end, though, we were all touched by the demon's evil will, so that even revenge on the Pharaoh and his priests would not have been enough to satisfy me. Until other factors came into play, that is."

He glanced at Ryou quickly, and then scowled at nothing they could see.

"Fortunately, the witless Pharaoh has now managed to complete the task he couldn't finish the first time! The Dark One is gone, the seven cursed items are gone, and I alone, of all my people, survive."

Ryou heard the familiar edge of derision in Bakura's voice when he spoke of the Pharaoh. He understood it now; in fact, the more he knew about Bakura, the less respect he had for the "other Yugi." But he also realized how the Voice had seemed different when he spoke to Ryou that last time, before the spirit disappeared. He still had no love for the Pharaoh and his priests, and he still had his anger, but he was no longer tainted with the darker evil of the demon.

Ryou remembered his last sight of the Items, and his wish that Bakura's spirit was at peace. Somehow, he hadn't gone to eternal rest as Ryou expected, but obviously he had changed, and it sounded as if some part of him had found peace after all.

A sense of relief came over him that made him smile up at Bakura. _I'm glad you're free, at least,_ he thought.

The spirit quirked an eyebrow at him. Ryou quickly clapped his hand over his mouth, even though he hadn't spoken out loud. But then he remembered that Bakura was no longer a spirit living inside of him, so he couldn't hear his thoughts - could he? From the odd little smile that was growing on Bakura's face, Ryou wasn't sure.

It sank in then, though, that Bakura really was a wizard as his father had said. That was the reason _he_ was magic! It was hard to believe. Then Ryou remembered the other unanswered question: why was Bakura here, now, alive, and standing in his apartment?

"If the game is over and the Dark One is gone, why are you still here?" he asked. "Why - and how - did you come back?"

Bakura grinned openly now.

"It was as unexpected to me as it is to you, I assure you! It seems that now that the Ring and the other Items are gone, my blood-bond with you has brought me back here. You see, I never really died in my own time. My body simply disappeared when my soul was dragged into the Ring. When the demon was defeated, I thought I would pass on and follow the souls of my kin to the realm of the gods, but instead I found myself here, and quite confused at first, I assure you!"

"I see," Senshiro said, but he sounded doubtful. "Then you haven't been resurrected from the dead - that would be the most forbidden magic of all! You've only been released from a curse that bound you for an incredibly long time. If you really are related to us, I suppose you appeared here in Ryou's apartment because of the blood-bond with our family, because this is the closest place to a family home any of us have now."

Bakura looked at him strangely for a moment, as if this was something he hadn't quite considered.

"Perhaps that's true," he mused. He turned his shadowy gaze to Ryou again. "Through you I have both life and family again."

Ryou blinked up at him in surprise. It had never occurred to him that the evil spirit possessing him might want those things. Bakura wasn't smiling, but seemed to be studying Ryou thoughtfully. There was a tentative, questioning look in his gaze as well.

His father nodded thoughtfully. To Ryou's surprise, he accepted all that he'd heard. In fact, his father seemed to be in awe of Bakura now.

"Yes, this is very deep magic," Senshiro said. He turned to Ryou again. "So, this is why you were in Egypt, without my knowing about it! You went to break this terrible curse where it began, I suppose? That was a very dangerous thing to do! You should have consulted me first, at least."

Ryou glanced quickly at Bakura, who still seemed to be waiting to see what he would say. It wasn't exactly the truth, but for the sake of sparing his father the confusing details, Ryou decided it was close enough, at least for now. He nodded, then bowed his head in apology.

"I'm sorry that I caused you worry, Father," he said.

"I'm afraid Ryou only went to Egypt due to my insistence," Bakura said. "There was no other way for me to return the Ring to the place where it was made and bring an end to its cursed history. I can assure you, its evil influence was never able to touch him."

Ryou blinked at him, surprised by the dark tone of his voice. He suddenly believed that Bakura had indeed protected him from Zorc - and that keeping his magic a secret was part of that protection. If the demon had known of his hidden magical ability, it might have tried to get him to use his powers for evil. And, Ryou realized, looking up at Bakura's grim expression, if he'd known the truth of what had happened to Bakura's village, he might very well have been tempted to use his magic against the ones he thought were responsible.

"Nevertheless, I'm sorry that I didn't know the evil history of the Ring when I gave it to you, Ryou" Senshiro said. "I'm ashamed that I gave you something that could have caused you harm! But I knew the moment I first saw it that it was meant for you, somehow. So, perhaps this is the way things had to be."

"It's all right now, anyway, Father," Ryou said. "Although it certainly has turned out differently than I ever imagined it would!"

They both turned at the same time and looked at Bakura. He still stood with his arms crossed and his shoulder against the doorframe, watching each of them with an unreadable expression.

Ryou watched curiously as Senshiro stood up and faced Bakura. With his hands at his sides, he offered the startled-looking former spirit a respectful bow.

"If this is all true as you say, then please accept my welcome into this family, Bakura," he said.

Bakura stared at him for a moment with an odd look on his face. He recovered enough to leave his place leaning on the doorjamb and stood to face Senshiro uncertainly, until finally he nodded his head awkwardly in acknowledgement.

Ryou was nearly as surprised at his father's trust and generosity as he was, but he had to smile. The Voice that had haunted him for so long seemed to be at a loss for words.

"However," Senshiro continued, gazing up at the taller man with the twinkle back in his dark eyes, "I'm not certain now if I should call you 'son' or 'father'!"

"Just call me Bakura," the former spirit gruffly, "and try to say it right!"

Ryou smiled, surprised a little by the happiness he felt. It was wonderful to see his father smile again for any reason, but to see Bakura standing there, almost as awkward as any teenager...

Bakura's gaze turned to him, and suddenly Ryou felt like they were looking at each other for the first time. That glimmer of uncertainty appeared again in Bakura's eyes, almost a look of longing, Ryou thought. It was quickly hidden behind the white shadow of Bakura's hair as he dipped his head.

Ryou lowered his eyes as well. He felt like his face was flushed, and he didn't know why. He noticed for the first time that Bakura was barefoot, and a second later it flashed into his mind that those must be his own old faded jeans that Bakura was wearing, except that they fit him a little tighter in the hip and thigh - and then he somehow noticed that the rest of him was very tanned and trim and well muscled... Ryou was used to the way girls acted around him, but he never understood it. _If I was a girl, I'd be more interested in me if I looked more like that,_ he thought.

His face grew several degrees warmer as he realized what he was thinking.

He looked up at Bakura's face again, peering up from under his own bangs with a shy smile. He hoped his face wasn't as red as if felt like it was, and he hoped very, very hard that Bakura really couldn't hear his thoughts anymore.

---

Being alive again was becoming stranger by the minute. Bakura was surprised to be welcomed into Ryou's home and family by Senshiro, but he was even more surprised with his own reaction. It had been a very long time since he'd been openly welcomed anywhere.

However, Ryou's acceptance of his presence here mattered a great deal more. This was Ryou's home, and it was in Ryou that the true lineage of his family had come to full power again. The magic that brought him to this place depended on Ryou's welcome, not his father's. But that wasn't the only reason Bakura hoped that Ryou would accept him.

He'd always felt protective toward his host, even if he hadn't always managed to show it in a way that pleased Ryou. Somehow along the way he'd grown fond of him as well. Ryou's loneliness had resonated with his own buried grief and loss, reminding him of the reason for his desire for vengeance, quite apart from the demon's hunger for power and destruction. The Pharaoh might have been the one to finally destroy Zorc, but without realizing it, Ryou was the one who had broken the demon's hold on Bakura's heart.

Ryou sat there on the bed, smiling but saying nothing. Bakura wondered again what he was thinking. It was strange not to be able to hear Ryou's thoughts. He couldn't even be certain of reading them on his face. He knew there was a barrier in Ryou's mind that hid his knowledge of magic even from himself, but he also knew that gentle smile could be an even more impenetrable barrier that kept his true feelings hidden from the world.

Bakura knew better than anyone how lonely Ryou had always been. He knew now that Ryou had kept himself apart from others to hide his magic, but he still didn't understand why that was necessary.

Senshiro was still pondering all that they'd told him, while Ryou watched him now with a shy, unfathomable smile. Before he could ask Ryou to accept his presence here, Bakura realized he needed to know the reason he had chosen to hide his magic and keep himself separate and alone in the world.

"Now, it's my turn!" he said. "There's something I would like explained as well."

They both looked at him expectantly, ready to answer any question - except, probably, the one he was about to ask. He turned to Ryou and frowned.

"Why do you hide your magic and never use the power that is in your blood? What are you hiding from, Bakura Ryou?"

Ryou's mouth fell open a little, and he quickly glanced at his father. The smile dropped from Senshiro's face and wariness returned instead.

"I know there are others in this modern world who have magic powers," Bakura continued, "but they rarely use it or reveal it. Perhaps this is because so many people who don't have magic are suspicious of those who do, just as they always have been. But I sense some deeper fear in your reluctance to use your powers."

He looked from Ryou to Senshiro questioningly. "Am I correct in guessing that you intended the Ring to act as a sort of false front for Ryou, so that if anyone sensed magic in him, they would only think it came from the ancient artifact he happened to be wearing?"

"Well, yes," Senshiro said, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "As you say, most people can't do magic and they know little or nothing of those of us who can. There are many in this world, especially in the wizarding world, who feel very strongly that it's safer this way, for both sides. But there's more to it than that in our case, as you seem to have guessed."

Senshiro sighed heavily as he sat down on Ryou's bed again. Ryou watched him unhappily, then turned his deep brown eyes to Bakura.

"If you're going to be living in this world now as a wizard, I suppose you should know the worst of it," he said softly.

---

to be continued... when the flashback concludes with more surprising revelations in chapter 4!


	4. Chapter 4

Title: The Dragon Tale, chapter 4 of ?

Author: Tsutsuji

Rating: PG13? implied shonen-ai. Also some dark themes, but only things that are already part of the Yu-gi-oh and Harry Potter stories.

Pairings: Bakura/Ryou

Warnings: MAJOR SPOILERS for the Ancient Egypt arc and the end of the Yu-gi-oh series, even though I'm changing a few things for my own amusement (and yours, I hope!).

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to these characters and I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement.

Spell-checked and self-beta'd. Please inform me of any typos or other errors.

Summary: The final revelations in the conclusion of the flashback that shows how Bakura's and Ryou's lives intersect with the world of Harry Potter. Why doesn't Ryou use his wizard powers? The answer is linked to a familiar tragedy. But now, Ryou's life is about to change completely!

Notes: I've seen different information given about the death of Ryou's sister and mother, so I'm just using a version that fits this story. Again, as with Bakura's history, same basic events as the manga but with a different background.

After this chapter, the story returns to the present and the Tale of the Dragon!

Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, faved, C2'd, or put this on alert! I'm so glad you like it, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

---

Chapter 4 -

Flashback, continued.

---

Bakura left his place in the doorway and slipped into the room, watching Ryou and his father while he waited for the answer to his question. Neither of them looked at him. He leaned back on the edge of Ryou's desk where he could face both of them. With his ankles cross and his arms again folded over his chest, he settled in comfortably, ready to be as patient as a cat waiting by a mouse's tunnel if necessary.

He looked to Ryou first, but Ryou turned to his father. Bakura suspected it was Senshiro's wish to keep Ryou's power secret, not Ryou's own choice. Ryou longed to have magic in his life; that was why he loved role-playing games where he could at least pretend to use magic powers. But Bakura also guessed it was more than simple respect for his father that kept Ryou from using his magic. Some black fear had a grip on both of their hearts, and some deep grief as well. Only deep fear or grief - or love - could have created the powerful magical barrier in Ryou's mind.

Finally, Senshiro nodded as if to himself, glanced up at Bakura, and began to speak.

"You may also guess, Bakura, that there are still those in this time who practice the forbidden Dark Arts, just as there were long ago in your time."

"Of course," Bakura said quietly with a grim smile. "People's hearts have not changed all that much in 3000 years, after all!"

Senshiro nodded again. He paused to gather his thoughts before continuing.

"Years ago, I studied Archeology in England, which is where I met and married Ryou's mother. Around the time Ryou was born, a very powerful, very evil Dark Wizard appeared there. He wielded terrible power in the wizarding world, and wanted even more power. Many other wizards and witches became his followers. Those who resisted, he threatened or cursed with horrible magic. But he only wished those from pureblood wizard families to join him, you see. He had no use for anyone else."

Senshiro sighed. Ryou sat with his knees drawn up, his knuckles pressed to his lips in a familiar nervous gesture, and watched his father silently.

"Ryou's mother came from one of those families, pure-blood wizards and witches for as many generations as anyone can trace. But they refused to join with this Dark Lord, as he called himself. In fact, she was the last pureblood in her family. She was an only child and her aunts and uncle had married into non-magical families. Her uncle... disappeared. Many of our wizard and witch acquaintances disappeared as well, or... " He shuddered, then shook his head. "It was a very dark time in our world."

Senshiro paused and glanced up at Bakura, who listened intently but said nothing.

"The evil influence of this man hadn't yet spread to my country, or so we thought," Senshiro continued. "When Ryou was four, we decided to leave England and come here to Japan to live. We heard stories of more terrible things happening back in England and Europe, but we thought it couldn't touch us here. Even so, to be safe, we lived like _muggles_ - that's the English word for all the people who aren't magic at all, you see.

"Ryou could have attended the foremost English school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, just as his mother's family have for generations. Instead, we taught him never to use magic, and to pretend that he had no magical powers at all. We thought that at least that way, the Dark Lord and his followers might forget all about us and leave us alone.

"Unfortunately, to my shame, the same kind of evil turned out to exist within my own family. The one whose name we never speak believed that those of pure wizard blood are superior to everyone else. I discovered that my own brother feels much the same way, but not only about magical powers. Sentaijo was shocked and disgusted that I married an Englishwoman, even if she was a pureblood witch. He despised our children, both because they were half English, and because they had no magic at all - as far as he could tell. 'That's what comes of marrying outsiders!' he said. We had a daughter by then as well... Ryou's little sister was born here. She knew absolutely nothing of magic. We never gave her a chance to know."

He fell silent. His face was white, but he showed no emotion, staring at nothing.

"Father," Ryou said softly.

"This is the sister you miss so much?" Bakura guessed.

Ryou nodded but didn't look at him.

"Yes. My mother and Amane died..." Ryou said hesitantly. "You know that..."

"A car accident?" Bakura prompted. "Isn't that what you tell your friends when they ask you?"

Bakura knew surprisingly little of Ryou's mother and sister, or of his life before he'd come to Domino to live alone. Those memories were buried deep in his mind, obscured by the same barrier that hid his magical knowledge.

Ryou nodded again. "Yes, they died in a car accident," he said. His voice sounded flat and numb.

"It's the truth," Senshiro said. "But there was magic involved in that accident. I don't know what happened, but from the strange stories the witnesses told, I knew some of them had been Obliviated - that is, they had a Memory Charm put on them to make them forget what they'd seen."

Bakura scowled. The story disturbed him than he'd expected it would.

"Your brother murdered your wife and child?" he said. It came out sounding like a growl.

"I don't know. Sentaijo didn't admit to it, but he never denied it, either. He only said it was just as well that my wife was dead, and that it was a shame my 'half-breed' son hadn't been killed as well. I have no proof that it was him, and it might not have been. It might have been the same followers of He Who Must Not Be Named who threatened her family back in England. Who can tell?"

Senshiro's voice had become shaky. His hands were clenched into white fists in his lap.

"Father," Ryou said again.

Bakura glanced at his former host. He knew Ryou's grief over his sister and mother well enough, but all that showed on the gentle face now was sympathy for his father.

"I haven't spoken with my brother in years," Senshiro went on in a steadier voice. "He stays at an ancient shrine high in the mountains that can't be found by muggles, where he studies old, forgotten magic. My younger brother tells me he speaks as if I and my son no longer exist, or never existed at all."

"And what about this evil English wizard?" Bakura asked. "The one whose name no one will speak? Where is he now?"

Senshiro didn't answer. After a minute, Ryou turned to Bakura and continued in his very soft voice.

"He was no longer in power by the time my mother and sister died. Many of his former followers are in prison; others fled or repented after he disappeared. But we know that many of them still follow his footsteps and hope he'll return someday, even though he's been gone over ten years."

Bakura was about to ask what happened to him when Senshiro suddenly shook himself out of the depths of his memories.

"Ah, yes!" he cried. To Bakura's surprise, and apparently Ryou's as well, he broke into a huge smile. "I completely forgot what I came all this way to tell you, Ryou!"

"Father?" Ryou said cautiously.

Senshiro leaned toward him eagerly. "How would you like to go and attend Hogwarts after all, my son?"

Ryou stared at him, as baffled as Bakura was by his sudden change of mood.

"What? Why?" Ryou sputtered. "Father, I'm too old to attend school there now, and anyway, it's still too dangerous - isn't it?"

"Maybe not! A lot of people call it the safest place in the world, you know."

Ryou frowned at him. "But Mother said that's where a lot of, of You-Know-Who's followers studied magic. Some people even think he was a student there himself. She said once that all the most powerful Deatheaters attended Hogwarts before they joined him."

"That may be," Senshiro said, with his enthusiasm dimming just a little. "I agreed with your mother that it wasn't worth the risk to send you there at the time, even after Professor Dumbledore became Headmaster. But now, there's someone else even more exciting at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

Senshiro clasped his hands together and smiled excitedly at Ryou.

"I heard from a friend in Egypt that _Harry Potter_ has shown up at last, alive and well, after being hidden away somewhere all these years. He's already in his second year at Hogwarts!"

For a second, Ryou stared at his father as if he'd gone mad, which Bakura was beginning to think as well. Then his face lit up into a smile that was brighter than any Bakura had ever seen on him before.

"Harry Potter!" he said in an awestruck whisper.

Before Bakura could ask who or what Harry Potter was and why he so exciting, and what he had to do with their family's tragedy, Ryou went on as excitedly as his father.

"Of course! It was eleven years ago, wasn't it? So he'd be old enough to start at Hogwarts last year. He really was somewhere in England all this time? Everyone wondered."

"Yes, and if we weren't out of touch with the wizarding world, we would have known the day he showed up at Hogwarts," Senshiro said. "I wish I'd known! I could have been worrying a lot less all this time. Hogwarts must really be as safe as everyone says. The Deatheaters can't be much of a threat in England anymore, either, if Dumbledore thinks it's safe to bring the one who defeated You-Know-Who to Hogwarts."

"What's this?" Bakura broke in. "The Dark Lord you fear has already been defeated?"

Ryou's smile faded a little. "Yes - apparently - although no one is quite sure how it happened, and it was a horrible tragedy."

"Would you care to explain that in a way that makes sense?" Bakura suggested patiently.

Ryou looked confused - charmingly so, Bakura thought briefly - and then he nodded and grew serious.

"I'm sorry! I'll try to explain... It's because of Harry Potter that He Who Must Not Be Named disappeared eleven years ago. Apparently he tried to get Harry Potter's parents to join with him. They were good people, so of course they refused. He went right to their home and killed them both with the Unforgivable Curse. Harry was only a baby, but somehow he survived when You-Know-Who tried to use the same killing curse on him. All he has is a scar..." Ryou pointed to his forehead. "According to the stories, it's supposed to look like a lightning bolt.

"Right after that, You-Know-Who disappeared completely. Some people thought he died when his spell backfired, but a lot of people think he just lost his powers. No one really knows why, though. Harry must be a wizard, of course, but he was only a year old then. He couldn't have done anything to harm such a powerful Dark Wizard."

Bakura watched as the smiles returned to their faces, with a growing sense of amazement as their words sank in. The most powerful and fearsome wizard of their time had been defeated, possibly destroyed, and they didn't know how it had happened? He stared at them, hardly able to believe his ears.

"Powerful!" Bakura said, incredulous. "Powerful? Perhaps he was, but he was certainly not smart!"

He saw their shocked faces and had to laugh. Ryou and his father looked at him now as if they thought he was the one who'd gone mad, which only made him laugh harder.

"We were all glad to know that the evil one had suffered some kind of blow," Senshiro said, looking at Bakura a little warily. "But I don't think anyone found it quite as amusing as you seem to."

"Oh, but it's very amusing," Bakura said. "Especially if this is the great Dark Lord you're all so afraid of. I don't know what they teach at this school of magic, but if he did attend it, obviously they don't teach anything of the Deep Magic there. If they did, he would have known better than to try to kill that child. His followers follow a fool!"

"Deep Magic?" Senshiro said doubtfully. "You think that's what saved Harry Potter's life?"

Bakura's laughter died out. He grew serious again as he looked down at them. He was amazed that it wasn't as obvious to them as it was to him. Surely Senshiro, so protective of his own son, could see it? Or didn't they even know?

"I'm certain of it." He shook his head, amazed at them. "In my time, even the commonest people with no magic powers at all knew of the Deep Magic. I thought you understood it as well, but I see that you don't comprehend the depths of it, do you?"

They looked up at him, wondering, clearly baffled.

"Don't you understand how I survived the slaughter of my entire village?" he said. "When the Pharaoh's soldiers came to drag us away for their ritual, they reached for me along with all the others. But after my mother threw herself on their spears to keep them from getting to me, even those fools knew enough to leave me alone. Even if they could have killed me, the magic that protected me after that would have made my soul entirely useless for their purposes."

Ryou gasped. Bakura didn't need to hear his thoughts; he could see the pain on Ryou's face as a fragment of Bakura's own memories flashed through his mind.

When the moment passed, he looked up at Bakura, horrified.

"I didn't realize," he whispered. "You were so young..."

For a moment, Bakura felt like he was looking back at his own, impossibly young, horrified face, unable to comprehend what had happened to his mother, what was happening all around him. But Ryou's horror softened into wonder and sympathy, not the dark madness that had engulfed his own soul.

"That's really how you survived all this time, then?" Ryou said in awe. "Because she did that for you? And then, the Millennium Items..." His voice faded to the barest whisper. "She was a part of them..."

Bakura stared at him and said nothing more.

"I see!" Senshiro had been lost in his own thoughts; he hadn't seen the horror come and go on Ryou's face or heard him whisper. "Yes, you could be right about Harry Potter, at that. I simply never thought of it that way before. There's been so much speculation, you see, and all anyone was really concerned about is the fact that it seemed to put an end to the One Who Must Not Be Named."

He thought some more, gazing at Bakura speculatively. He still seemed puzzled by something. Bakura waited for him to ask more about the Deep Magic, but instead, he seemed to be trying to sound out a word.

"_Sar byt'ankh_," he said at last, and nodded. "Yes, that's it! That's what you said you were called long ago, when I came in and found you here. I just remembered and worked it out. It means, more or less, The Miraculously Living Son, doesn't it?"

Bakura nodded briefly. The ones who found him near the ruins of his village called him that, never knowing what had happened to destroy his home, or what had become of all the others whose blood soaked the sand but whose bodies they never found.

Ryou gasped again as his father's words sank in. Senshiro turned to him and grinned. Then, to Bakura's surprise, they both turned toward him.

"That's amazing!" Ryou said happily, beaming at him. "It's just like - The Boy Who Lived!"

Bakura stared back at their smiling faces with the feeling that he was the one who was missing something now.

"That's what everyone calls Harry Potter," Ryou explained finally. "Because he's the only person who ever survived the killing curse, you see."

Bakura did see, although he wasn't sure he was happy with the comparison. He wondered if this Harry Potter even knew why he was still alive.

"Well, now I know the reason that you kept your magic hidden," he said, "but are you still going to hide? Or are you going to return to your mother's homeland and meet this wondrous wizard child, and learn to use your magic at that school?"

Ryou glanced at his father uncertainly. He didn't look quite as excited about Harry Potter and Hogwarts as he had a few minutes ago.

"I've always felt badly that you couldn't go to Hogwarts, Ryou," his father said. "Perhaps, given the prestige of your mother's family - and mine as well - Dumbledore would allow you to attend, if only for some kind of private tutoring, or something."

"Father, thank you. I'd like to see Hogwarts, I guess," Ryou said, politely but not happily. "Forgive me, but I don't have pleasant memories of England. All I remember is worry and fear while we were there. I know Mother was much happier here. She loved this country."

"That's true," Senshiro said, with a wistful smile. "She did adopt Japan wholeheartedly, and never had any desire to go back to England. But Ryou, I want you to learn to use your magic properly now. You should have the best teachers, and those are at Hogwarts!"

Ryou inclined his head respectfully.

"Father, if I'm to learn magic, I would rather go to a wizarding school here in Japan."

Bakura watched this polite and formal exchange with a little amusement. He hadn't been much impressed with the non-magic school Ryou went to, and he had already formed a poor opinion of Hogwarts.

"What do they teach in this wizarding schools, anyway?" he asked skeptically. "I could probably teach you more than any school of this time even knows of magic!"

"I'm sure you could teach us a great deal," Senshiro said. "However, we've made a few discoveries in the past 3000 years, too! I'm familiar with some of your Egyptian magic, you know. Our methods, spells, and incantations have evolved quite a bit since your time. In fact, if you're to live in this world as a wizard, I think you're going to need to learn a few things from us!"

"You're not suggesting I attend school with a bunch of little wizard brats!" Bakura said before he could stop himself.

Senshiro raised an eyebrow, but he looked as much amused as shocked.

"It is difficult to imagine you getting along in a place like Hogwarts," he said, smiling indulgently.

"Maybe," Ryou suggested hesitantly, looking quickly from Bakura to his father, "maybe we could learn together? On our own?"

Bakura raised an eyebrow at this. Ryou smiled up at him, shy and hesitant. And then suddenly he blushed, hiding his shy grin behind his knees.

Bakura was speechless. After a moment, while Ryou continued to peer up at him from behind the hair falling over his face, he smiled. When he thought about it, the idea of learning magic along with his former host sounded like a very interesting idea.

Senshiro thought about it a moment - not noticing the unusual color of his son's face - then he shrugged.

"Possibly you can. After all, it's not as if you don't know any thing at all about magic, simply that you've trained yourself not to use it. I could make some inquiries, perhaps find a tutor for you. I don't know of any other wizards or witches here in Domino, but we can pay a visit to some old friends in Kyoto. They'll be happy to help, I'm sure. And anyway, if you're going to learn proper modern magic," he continued with a quick, amused glance in Bakura's direction, "you'll need the proper equipment. The best place to find all that, short of a trip to Diagon Alley in London, is in Kyoto."

Ryou's eyes grew wide. "Do you mean I can have a wand?"

"Of course!" Senshiro laughed. "And perhaps an owl as well, so we can stay in touch from now on!"

Bakura hadn't seen such a glow on Ryou's face since the deluxe expansion set for Monster World had arrived at the Kame Game Shop. He wasn't quite as pleased as Ryou was with the prospect of acquiring new magical objects, but he was starting to get a little curious about just what he'd been missing in this world of magic-users in Ryou's time.

Senshiro smiled indulgently at his son, but then he grew serious again.

"You should still be cautious, I think," he said. " 'Muggles' here are not as afraid of magic as they are in the West, and for that matter, wizards and witches are not as alienated from the 'muggle' world as they are in England. It's a bit of a controversy in the worldwide wizarding community, in fact, that we don't keep as well hidden as they think we ought to be, especially in a place with very old magical traditions like Kyoto. Even so, Ryou," he continued, with a quick glance at Bakura as well, "Don't go announcing it to the world that you can do magic! You'll still need to attend regular school here, at least for another year, but I don't think your friends at Domino High School would understand if you start waving your wands around and turning teacups into tortoises!"

"No," Ryou said, shaking his head. "I won't do anything like..." he trailed off; suddenly his eyes grew wide and round and he clapped his hand over his mouth. "Oh. Oh dear. I completely forgot..."

He looked up at Bakura with those great, deep brown eyes. For the first time since he'd fainted up, he looked scared. That made Bakura nervous and a little annoyed.

"What have you forgotten, Yadonushi?" he said impatiently.

"Ryou? What's wrong?" his father asked.

"Oh!" Ryou said again, turning to his father as if he'd forgotten he was there. He looked even more distressed. "I'm not supposed to tell you!"

Now Senshiro looked both worried and annoyed as well. Bakura wished he could just hear Ryou's thoughts, but before he could make up his mind to try to reopen the mental link that had existed between them, Ryou's shoulders slumped and he sighed.

"I suppose I have to tell you, don't I?" he said miserably. With both his father and Bakura scowling at him now, he forced an apologetic smile.

"Well, I forgot... But when we came back from Egypt... Bakura, I'm afraid you're not really the only ancient Egyptian who has returned to life."

"Really?" Senshiro was predictably excited to hear this. "There's another survivor from the past? Where is he? Or is it a she?"

Bakura wasn't quite as pleased. There was only one other person from Ancient Egypt whose soul was likely to have survived. "Don't tell me," he growled.

The look on Ryou's face confirmed his horrible suspicion.

Bakura groaned. "That cursed Pharaoh still walks this earth as well?"

Ryou nodded apologetically.

"At the very end," he explained quickly, "after all seven Items were returned to the stone tablet, everyone thought he was going to disappear into the afterlife. I know Yugi expected it, but he didn't want Atemu to go. Atemu said it was their fate to be parted, but just then, Isis stepped up and said it wasn't. That is, she said Atemu had a choice. He could live out the rest of his life in this world as an ordinary man, or he could go and take his place in the afterlife as the son of the gods. She said that Shadi had revealed this to her right at the end of your duel with the Pharaoh, before _he_ disappeared into the Afterlife. Atemu... he decided to stay with Yugi."

Bakura scowled darkly at this news. Senshiro gaped, looking from one to the other of them in confusion.

"I suppose it makes sense," Bakura grumbled at last, after thinking it over. "He never really died either, and he sacrificed his own life as Pharaoh to seal the Dark One away. And in the end the fool did somehow manage to defeat the demon forever. I suppose the gods would choose to reward him with such a choice and another chance at life," he admitted, very reluctantly.

"There's a real Egyptian pharaoh here in Domino as well?" Senshiro couldn't contain his excitement. "That's wonderful! I -"

Ryou held up his hand. "Father, wait! Please."

Senshiro paused, startled by his son's command. Ryou sighed heavily.

"Well, yes," Ryou admitted. "It's true. He's going to be living with Yugi Motou, a friend of mine from school. But no one is supposed to know that he's really from ancient Egypt!" he added with a pleading look at his father.

Senshiro looked so disappointed that Bakura was tempted to laugh. He wanted to reassure him that Atemu wasn't much of a source of ancient knowledge - wasn't much good for anything in fact. But he kept silent as Ryou continued.

"I said I wouldn't tell anyone - especially you, father! I'm sorry, I forgot I made that promise, but at the time I didn't think there would be any reason to tell you. We all agreed we wouldn't say anything about it to anyone who wasn't there. Yugi's grandfather said they'd make up with some explanation for him coming to live with them. He'll probably come in as a transfer student in Yugi's class at school. Come to think of it, I suppose we'd better think of an explanation for you, too, Bakura. They'll be surprised..."

"Yes, they will," Bakura said with a grin. Ryou had a too-innocent look in his eyes, and he caught Bakura's gaze and smiled, too. Apparently, his former host was going to enjoy surprising his friends as much as he was.

"Heh-heh!" Bakura laughed, brightening up even more at the thought of Atemu attending high school like an ordinary, modern kid. "That's right! He's not a pharaoh any longer. No one in this world is going to bow down and worship him as the son of the gods! In fact," he said, with his grin widening, "without his Millennium Puzzle, he's just an ordinary man now - a 'muggle'!"

Ryou tried to stifle a giggle behind his hand. His brown eyes sparkled as he caught Bakura's gaze again.

For a moment, they shared a sudden understanding. Ryou's soft brown eyes were shining, and as they continued to gaze at each other, his pale cheeks became softly flushed again. Bakura felt the glowing warmth of life inside himself as well. Perhaps he really was welcome here, he thought.

He laughed out loud, and Ryou's giggles burst through as well.

Senshiro looked terribly disappointed. "An ancient Egyptian Pharaoh - a _muggle_?" he said sadly.

---

Senshiro was still shaking his head over the idea of an Egyptian Pharaoh being nothing more than a muggle - and one he couldn't even talk to - several minutes later. He suddenly declared he'd heard and talked as much as he could stand for a while, and left to make dinner for all of them.

Bakura found himself suddenly alone with Ryou for the first time. Still blushing, Ryou met his eyes for a moment, and then quickly looked away.

Bakura watched him sit and fidget silently for a moment. He crossed his arms again to keep himself from fidgeting as well, not from nervousness, but to control the urge to touch Ryou again and find out if his face was really as warm as it looked. He knew he'd grown fond of Ryou, somehow. The feelings that were stirring in him now, the desire to be closer to him, took him by surprised. But he also felt other, deeper emotions toward Ryou that were even more surprising than that. Or maybe they weren't really that surprising after all.

Ryou's grief and loneliness had touched his own and made him feel human again, but he hadn't realized the terrible source of those emotions before today. He'd always known of the Deep Magic that had protected him. Watching Ryou while his father told the story of his family's tragedy, it suddenly seemed to him that even he had never really understood it until now.

Now, knowing of the danger that still existed in Ryou's world, he felt an overwhelming, baffling urge to protect his former host from harm. If Dark Wizards or anyone else threatened Ryou, Bakura decided he would use all the magic and knowledge he had to keep him safe. Even if it meant invoking the power of the Deep Magic himself someday.

But in order to do that, he would need to be able to stay near Ryou.

" _'Adjo,"_ he said softly, watching the soft light gleam on Ryou's hair.

"What? Did you say something to me?" Ryou asked.

Bakura smiled and shook his head.

"Nothing," he said. "Never mind."

---

Ryou realized that the story of his own tragedy and the excitement about Harry Potter had distracted him from really noticing Bakura for a while, but as soon as they were alone, he suddenly became terribly aware of the former spirit's physical presence again.

He hardly dared glance up at him for fear he'd be caught staring. He told himself it was only because he was still getting used to the idea that Bakura was _out there_ and not inside his head, plus the strangeness of seeing someone who looked like him only so much different. The fact was, most of that shock had already worn off. He simply found himself wanting to look at Bakura - rather a lot.

When he finally did look up, Bakura was watching him silently, with that oddly tentative look in his eyes again, as if he was wondering what Ryou thought of him.

Ryou wasn't quite sure what he did think of Bakura anymore, only that his feelings toward him were quite a bit different than they had been a few days ago when he was ready to do anything to get rid of the Ring and its terrible Spirit. But then he thought back further and remembered moments when the Spirit wasn't being quite so terrible, when it seemed like they might actually have something in common after all, like the love of games or a hatred of bullies. He remembered wishing it could stay that way, as if he really did have a friend who really understood him.

"Well, _Yadonushi,_" Bakura said. He suddenly sounded more like the spirit Ryou remembered, but his eyes were hidden in the shadow of the hair that had fallen over his face. "Your father is very generous to have welcomed me so readily. But then, he only knows that I was trapped by an ancient curse. You know so much more, Ryou Bakura. You know all that I've done in the name of vengeance. I must admit, despite being free of the Dark One's influence, there is very little of it I regret. But your father has welcomed me into your home. Is that all right with you? Do you wish to welcome me into your home as well, Ryou Bakura?"

Ryou stared up at him. The question surprised him. He thought the answer should be obvious, but it sounded as if there was something behind it that he didn't understand.

"I'm glad I know the truth," he said. "I don't like to think too much about some of the things you did." He winced as one of those more unpleasant memories flashed through his mind. "Like how you acquired the Ring for the first time, for example. But I think Father is right, this is how things had to be. And if you had never had the Ring, you might not be here now."

Bakura continued quietly. "The first time I visited, you were quite anxious to have me leave. If you feel that way now..."

Ryou said nothing. Bakura lifted his head a little, and their eyes met. Ryou wondered how he could feel more exposed than ever, sitting here like this face to face, when Bakura had already been inside his mind. Or maybe it was just that he could see deeper into Bakura than he'd ever seen before.

Bakura pushed himself off of the desk and came over to stand in front of Ryou. For a second, Ryou felt frozen, but not with fear. With a strange sense of anticipation, he watched as Bakura dropped to his knees. Kneeling at the side of the bed, he was eye to eye with Ryou.

He lifted a hand toward Ryou, who didn't move or blink, although his heart was pounding. But Bakura dropped his hand onto the bed and cocked his head at Ryou instead.

"Well? Do you welcome me into your home? Into your life? Or do you still want me to get out and leave you alone?"

Only a few days ago, Ryou never thought he'd want the Spirit of the Ring to stay, but he knew what his answer was without a doubt. They were separate now, but he wasn't alone and apart anymore, and he was glad of it.

He sat up on the bed and folded his legs underneath him. Kneeling that way, he was a little higher than Bakura now. The former spirit looked up at him calmly, waiting.

Ryou just needed to make sure he was quite as real as he looked. He reached out his own hand and touched Bakura's. It felt solid and warm. Looking down at the Egyptian's tanned skin next to his own white fingers, he spoke softly.

"I did miss you, in a way, after it was all over. And I would definitely miss you now if you went away again," he said.

When he looked up again, Bakura's blue eyes were locked on him. He wasn't quite smiling, but unless Ryou was imagining things, his face was a little flushed now, too. Ryou suddenly felt shy, but he continued anyway.

"Welcome home, Bakura," he said. "I hope you'll stay. I hope you'll stay for a very long time."

Bakura watched him for a long, silent moment from the depths of his shadowy eyes. Finally, Bakura's hand closed around his, and he smiled.

"Thank you, my host. I believe I will!"

At that moment, Ryou Bakura knew his life was about to become even stranger than it already was - and better than it had ever been.

---

to be continued... back into the present, where Bakura and Ryou now have to hide not only their own magic powers but a stray dragon as well!

A few more notes:

Just to be clear - I'm figuring Harry found out he was a wizard around the same time Yugi solved his Millennium Puzzle, while Ryou acquired the Ring a few months before those two events. I also figure the events of Yu-gi-oh took about a year to unfold, so this flashback occurs sometime during Harry's 2nd year at Hogwarts. He'd be 12, and Ryou is 17. Amane and Ryou's mother died when he was 14, so Amane was 11 - just old enough to have gone to Hogwarts herself if things had turned out differently.

Back in the present, Ryou has turned 18 and is still in high school for his final year. Harry would be in his 3rd year at Hogwarts.

"sar byt 'ankh" - excuse my lame attempt at translating "Boy Who Lived" into Ancient Egyptian. I hobbled this together from a couple of books on hieroglyphics, especially Bridget McDermott's wonderful book "Decoding Egyptian Hieroglyphs."

"Adjo" (or something like that) is Ancient Egyptian for "treasure," - I think!


End file.
